Return to Forever and Dweezil Zappa perform at Miner Park

By Skip Sheffield

BOCA RATON — One of the most renowned progressive jazz groups in the world, Return to Forever IV, visited Boca Raton Saturday for a concert at Mizner Park Amphitheater. The group features founding members Chick Corea, piano, Stanley Clarke,bass and Lenny White, drums. Completing the group is Frank Gambale, guitar, and for the first time Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. Also performing Zappa Plays Zappa was guitarist Dweezil Zappa.

“I have long admired Return to Forever, and I have recorded with some of them individually,” revealed French-born Jean-Luc Ponty. “But this is the first time I have toured with them, it is very exciting.”

While the first incarnation of Return to Forever was recording and touring in the early 1970s, Jean-Luc Ponty was a focal point in the pioneering jazz-rock fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra with guitarist John McLaughlin.

RTF IV played classic pieces from its catalogue past and present, and individual players performed compositions from their solo projects.

“There are no ego problems here,” said Ponty. “We all respect and admire each other, and each of us has a chance to present his music. It is an ideal situation.”